FSM to undergo peer review under Forum Compact

The national development planning, budgeting, public financial and aid management processes and systems of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) will be peer reviewed under the Cairns Compact on Strengthening Development Coordination in the Pacific (Forum Compact) from 12 – 26 November 2012.

At the invitation of the Government of the FSM, a team of officials, comprising Ms Noumea Simi from Samoa, Mr Johnson Naviti from Vanuatu and Mr Asif Chida from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will be in FSM to assist the country and its development partners to consider good development practices and share these within the region and globally. They will also identify challenges in FSM and offer advice based on their own country experiences.

In welcoming the invitation from the Government of FSM to undertake the peer review, Acting Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Ms Andie Fong Toy said: “The peer review process is intended to reinforce country leadership over the establishment of national priorities, and enhance the capacity of countries to guide the use of both government and development partner funded development resources.”

“Peer reviews are an opportunity for mutual learning between Forum island countries (FICs) on the one hand, and their peers in other FICs and development partners on the other, about how best to address development challenges,” Ms Fong Toy added.

The peer review team, which will be assisted by staff of the Forum Secretariat, will hold consultations with various Government Departments, representatives of development partners, non-government organisations and the private sector in the capital state of Pohnpei as well as representatives from some of the other States of FSM.

At the end of the consultations, the Team will prepare a report which will be discussed and endorsed by the FSM Government. The report will include recommendations to the Government and the development partners.

The FSM is the ninth country to undertake the Forum Compact peer review process after Nauru, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Niue, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tonga and Papua New Guinea since the Compact was endorsed by Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in 2009.